A lot of people don’t like to plug in appliances to the wall socket. They are usually afraid of the random spark that occurs when the plug is inserted into the socket. It is also possible that they might have had an accident before where they got burns due to the electrical spark. Nothing has changed through the years about this. The only thing that can be done is to keep your appliances plugged in at all times.
That may not be a far off thing. With today’s smart appliances, they all need to be plugged in at all times. The list of intelligent appliances is growing. Besides light bulbs, speakers and audio equipment, there are also refrigerators and chillers which are connected to the Internet. They not only need to be plugged in at all times, but also require WiFi to be controlled remotely.
One thing that these appliances and devices also require is a small thing inside called the miniature circuit breaker. The house has a circuit breaker, and these appliances have their own as well. This is not a redundancy, but a well thought out design, especially considering that the appliance is plugged in at all times. In fact, the possibility of the miniature circuit breaker tripping is quite high because it is always plugged in.
There are only a few instances when a surge can happen. Electrical surges happen when the neighbourhood transformer trips, or when there is a thunderstorm. During a thunderstorm, the static electricity in the air can cause surges. That is on top of the possibility of a lightning strike. For large surges which start outside of the house, the main circuit breaker is supposed to prevent these surges from entering the system. However, sometimes the surge is too strong, and excess energy passes through to the connected appliances.
There are instances when such incidents are unfavourable for smart appliances. This is also where the small circuit breakers located inside the appliance do their job. They detect the large amount of power and the connection opens, thus protecting the appliance. Unlike old-time fuses, you do not need to change the fuse when it breaks. What you can do is just press a breaker switch and this resets the device.
Adding a small circuit breaker is a necessary element to keeping the device working. It also makes for a robust and durable design. It can be considered as the last line of defence against dirty electrical current. There are issues which a circuit breaker cannot prevent, but for large things like a power surge or a spike, it helps a lot.
A simple explanation of the device, or for any circuit breaker, is to think of a switch which is always closed when functioning properly. The device is closed and the circuit is complete, and electricity passes through normally. When there is a surge or a spike, this switch heats up and opens. Electricity cannot pass through. The machine has been turned off. With the circuit breaker open, the surge or spike cannot do any damage to the components. To restart or reset the circuit breaker, there is a small toggle switch which the user has to press. It is that simple and convenient to reset.